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September 29, 2009

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs easily won the weekend, its second at the top. It easily fended off the competition from the weekend's new releases, with the Bruce Willis thriller Surrogates being the closest. The animated film dipped a mere 18% in its second frame, an impressive number to say the least. I suspect that the increased cost of a 3D ticket helped that number, but the spread of positive word of mouth probably did not hurt either. I was able to see it this weekend and it proved to be an absolutely delightful time. It is funny, touching, and comes with plenty of its own food. It actually surpassed the expectations I had for it. It is definitely one worth catching on the big screen.

Second place plays host to the latest Bruce Willis outing, Surrogates. It is a movie that has plenty of good ideas, yet fails to delve into any of them. It is a fun action film, nothing more. I think it is more interesting to discuss the world after the film than it is to figure out what the film wants to say. Still, it is a decent diversion, although hardly a must see.

The remake of Fame finished third for the weekend, well below what the studio hoped for at just over $10 million. I am not surprised, I saw very little advertising for this one. That said, I have not seen it, nor do I have any intention of seeing it. I look at that title and cannot help but feel it is safe to take a pass on.

Fourth and fifth place feature a pair of returning films, The Informant! and Tyler Perry's I Can do Bad All By Myself. Both films featured decent holds from last week and seem to be crowd pleasers. I suspect that they will begin a steeper decent beginning next week.

Sixth place is held by the third of this week's wide releases, Pandorum. The science fiction/horror film is fun, claustrophobic and more than a little bit silly. Still, I found myself enjoying the ride, the thrills, and the fun. Will it be one to remember down the road? Doubtful, but it is still worth the trip.

There is nothing terribly notable in the latter portion of the list. Well, except maybe Jennifer's Body. It slipped 46% from last week, I seriously expected it to drop a lot more.

Next week's competition includes the 3D double-feature re-release of the two Toy Story movies. Also opening is the hotly anticipated, by me anyway, Zombieland, the horror comedy starring Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin, Drew Barrymores directorial debut Whip It with Ellen Page, and The Invention of Lying, which is Ricky Gervais big screen directorial debut. Oh yes, Michael Moore's latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, expands its release.

Three movies dropped off the top ten this week: All About Steve (11), The Final Destination (12), and Sorority Row (14).

This Week

Last Week

Title

Wknd Gross

Overall

Week in release

1

N

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

$25,038,803

$60,474,555

2

2

N

Surrogates

$14,902,692

$14,902,692

1

3

N

Fame (2009)

$10,011,682

$10,011,682

1

4

2

The Informant!

$6,624,085

$20,700,946

2

5

3

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself

$4,759,833

$44,552,477

3

6

N

Pandorum

$4,424,126

$4,424,126

1

7

4

Love Happens

$4,307,980

$14,708,710

2

8

5

Jennifer's Body

$3,664,559

$12,470,373

2

9

6

9

$2,959,231

$27,227,811

3

10

7

Inglourious Basterds

$2,683,198

$114,420,733

6

Box Office Predictions RecapSo far as the placings go, I started strong, but then my picks got spotty at best. I have no excuse for my failing aside from assuring you that I did indeed try to get them right. Fortunately, my placings were not terribly far off, just one or two placings here and there. As for the dollar side of the coin, I did decently. Even where I failed to get the place right, my dollars were close. The funny thing is that the top of the chart. where I got most of the placings correct, I was the furthest away on the dollar amounts. Who would have thought that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs would have such a strong hold?